- Lesson 8 in the Connect360 unit “The Making of Authentic Faith: Wisdom that Works” focuses on James 4:1-12.
The real reason pride is so deadly to us is because it reveals our belief that our abilities, our resources, our knowledge, or our position demand we be treated differently. Pride respects no person. So, this attitude also comes up when what God commands conflicts with what we desire.
None of us can win a battle against God. Every time I choose what I desire instead of what God says, I am controlled by pride and sin against God. This choice places me on the front lines of a battle against God as I now possess enmity toward God.
God knows we cannot win, which is why God makes such a passionate plea to us in these verses. God knows if we are aware of how our friendship with the world and its ungodly desires put us in this position, we could choose not to become friends with the world. God knows if we understood how much he wants to be in relationship with us and how this choice breaks that bond, we could choose not to become friends with the world.
Pride threatens our relationship with God
Pride is one of our greatest threats to enjoying an ongoing relationship with God. Pride threatens our relationship with God, because it always focuses our attention on ourselves, which means our attention cannot be on God, where it belongs.
Pride is offensive to God because it tells the God who knows everything that we know better than him. Pride is offensive to God because it tells the God who made and sustains us that we do not respect or fear him. Pride is offensive to God because it says though God gave up everything to be in relationship with us, we only want relationship with him if he gives us our selfish desires.
We must not ignore the subtle ways pride can take hold of us, but instead decide each day to focus on God’s greatness rather than our own. If we do this over the long term, God will allow humility to become a part of who we are because we never let ourselves forget who he is.
Compiled by Stan Granberry, marketing coordinator for GC2 Press, formerly known as BaptistWay Press.
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